2017-2018 Spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. Awards

Waynflete’s Diversity and Equity Committee (DEC) recently invited Middle and Upper School students to submit an application for the fourth annual Spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. Award. Interested students were asked to submit an essay in response to one of the two prompts below:

In a 1947 article for his college paper, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote: “The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. But education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society.” How can efficiency be a menace to society? What do you imagine Dr. King’s idea of a great educational experience would look like?

In a 1965 speech, Martin Luther King Jr. said: “A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice. A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true.” What does this mean, and what relevance does it have in American society today?

Award winners Maeve Devine, Grace Devine, Owen Hoffsten, Isaaq Bashir, and Basil DiBenedetto are pictured above—along with Assistant Head for Student Life Lydia Maier—representing Waynflete at the MLK dinner sponsored by the Portland chapter of the NAACP on January 15. The event featured music, poetry, and tributes in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. The keynote speakers were Andrea James, director of the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, and Marc Mauer, Director of The Sentencing Project.

Waynflete senior Atia Werah ’18 did a wonderful job as emcee. She is pictured below to the left of Senator Angus King.